Salt falling through the air gave the skill an audience
Um aprendiz de açougueiro turco que abandonou a escola na sexta série transformou um gesto com sal em um império global de restaurantes, provando que, na era das redes sociais, a performance pode ser tão poderosa quanto o produto. Nusret Gökçe, o Salt Bae, construiu a rede Nusr-Et em dezessete países a partir de um vídeo viral de 2017 — mas o fechamento de cinco unidades americanas e prejuízos de cerca de seis milhões de libras revelam os limites de um modelo de negócio fundado sobre a novidade e o espetáculo. O que o mundo assistiu encantado por alguns anos começa a levantar uma questão antiga: quando o gesto perde a graça, o que resta no prato?
- O fechamento de cinco restaurantes nos Estados Unidos — Nova York, Dallas, Boston, Beverly Hills e Las Vegas — expõe uma crise silenciosa dentro de um império que parecia invencível.
- Prejuízos de aproximadamente seis milhões de libras contradizem a narrativa oficial de 'pivô estratégico' e sugerem que a saturação do mercado chegou antes do planejado.
- Críticos gastronômicos e disputas trabalhistas acumuladas corroem a aura de exclusividade que era, ao mesmo tempo, o produto e a proteção da marca.
- Com apenas dois restaurantes americanos ainda abertos — em Nova York e Miami — e um projeto no Brasil que nunca saiu do papel, o centro de gravidade do negócio se desloca para mercados internacionais menos exigentes.
- A pergunta que paira sobre o Salt Bae agora é a mesma que assombra toda celebridade construída sobre viralidade: como sustentar um império quando o mundo já viu o truque?
Um menino que começou a trabalhar em um açougue de Istambul aos treze anos e nunca terminou o ensino fundamental tornou-se, em 2017, um dos rostos mais reconhecidos do mundo gastronômico. Nusret Gökçe publicou um vídeo deixando o sal escorrer pelo antebraço até a carne e, em questão de meses, o artesão virou celebridade global. O gesto não era truque vazio — era o produto de anos estudando o ofício em diferentes países, incluindo Argentina e Estados Unidos, antes de abrir o primeiro Nusr-Et em 2010.
O império que se seguiu foi erguido sobre três pilares: cortes premium, apresentação teatral e a presença constante do próprio Gökçe no salão, reproduzindo o gesto do sal para mesas cheias de celebridades e influenciadores. O prato símbolo — um bife coberto com folha de ouro de vinte e quatro quilates, vendido por até dois mil dólares — resumia a filosofia da marca: luxo como espetáculo. Em 2024, a rede operava dezessete restaurantes em oito países.
Mas a expansão escondia rachaduras. Entre 2023 e 2024, cinco unidades americanas foram fechadas, gerando prejuízos de cerca de seis milhões de libras. A empresa falou em reposicionamento estratégico; os números contavam outra história. Críticos gastronômicos, nunca generosos com o Nusr-Et, ficaram mais ruidosos. Disputas trabalhistas se acumularam. A marca que prosperou sobre exclusividade começou a ser vista como armadilha para turistas.
Restaram dois restaurantes nos Estados Unidos — Nova York e Miami. Um projeto para o Brasil, alimentado pela visibilidade conquistada durante a Copa do Mundo de 2022 no Catar, nunca se concretizou. O homem que construiu um império com um único gesto enfrenta agora o desafio mais difícil: o que fazer quando o gesto, sozinho, não é mais suficiente.
A Turkish butcher's apprentice who dropped out of school in the sixth grade became one of the world's most recognizable restaurateurs by learning to sprinkle salt in a way that made people watch. Nusret Gökçe, known everywhere as Salt Bae, posted a video in 2017 that showed him slicing a steak and finishing it by letting salt cascade down his forearm and off his fingertips onto the meat. The clip accumulated millions of views. Within months, he had transformed from a skilled craftsman into a global celebrity.
Gökçe had spent his teenage years obsessed with becoming the world's best butcher. Starting at thirteen, he worked in a meat shop in Istanbul, learning every aspect of the trade. His ambition took him across continents—to Argentina and the United States—to study how other countries approached their butchering traditions. When he opened his first Nusr-Et steakhouse in 2010, it was the culmination of that single-minded pursuit. The viral moment in 2017 simply gave the world permission to care about what he already knew.
The empire that followed was built on three pillars: premium cuts, theatrical presentation, and the man himself. Gökçe didn't hide in the kitchen. He worked the dining room, reproducing that famous salt gesture for tables full of celebrities and influencers who came specifically to be seen eating his food and sharing it online. The signature dish—a gold steak finished with twenty-four-karat edible gold leaf—became the visual shorthand for the brand's entire philosophy: luxury as spectacle, meat as performance art.
At the New York location in Midtown Manhattan, near Fifth Avenue and the Museum of Modern Art, the most expensive item on the menu was a family-style New York steak weighing 1.8 kilograms, priced at two thousand dollars. By 2024, Nusr-Et operated seventeen restaurants across eight countries: Turkey, the United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the United States, and Mexico. The brand had become a destination for anyone with money and a social media account.
But the expansion masked deeper problems. Between 2023 and 2024, Gökçe closed five American locations—in New York, Dallas, Boston, Beverly Hills, and Las Vegas. The closures cost approximately six million pounds in losses. A company spokesperson told reporters the decision was part of a strategic pivot toward international markets, but the timing and the losses suggested something else: the novelty had worn thin. Food critics, who had never been kind to Nusr-Et, grew louder. Labor disputes accumulated. The brand that had thrived on exclusivity and celebrity began to feel, to some, like a tourist trap.
Only two American restaurants remained open by 2024—one in New York, one in Miami. The global footprint stayed intact, but the momentum had shifted. In 2023, Gökçe had expressed interest in opening a location in Brazil, riding a wave of popularity that had crested during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when Brazilian players like Vinícius Júnior and Éder Militão, along with influencer Bruna Biancardi, had visited his Doha restaurant. That project never materialized. The man who had built an empire on a single gesture—salt falling through the air—now faced the harder challenge of sustaining it when the gesture alone was no longer enough.
Notable Quotes
The closures were part of a strategic pivot toward international markets— Nusr-Et company spokesperson to Eater NY in 2024
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
How does someone go from dropping out of school to running restaurants in eight countries?
He didn't skip the work. He spent his entire adolescence learning meat—every cut, every technique. He traveled to Argentina and America to study how other countries did it. The viral video didn't create the skill; it just gave the skill an audience.
The gold steak costs two thousand dollars. Who actually buys that?
People who want to be seen buying it. The dish is designed to be photographed and shared. That's the real product—not the meat, but the proof that you were there, that you could afford it, that you were part of something exclusive.
But if everyone can see the photos online, doesn't that destroy the exclusivity?
Yes. That's exactly what happened. Once the image became more important than the experience, once the restaurants became Instagram locations rather than destinations, the whole thing became vulnerable. Closing five American locations in a year suggests the market realized it was paying for the story, not the steak.
Why didn't the Brazil location happen?
The interest was there—he'd become famous during the World Cup, Brazilian celebrities had visited his restaurants. But interest and execution are different things. By 2023, the brand was already contracting in America. Expanding into a new market requires confidence and capital. He had neither.
Is Salt Bae finished?
Not finished. Seventeen restaurants still operate. But the moment when his name alone could fill a room—that's over. He's a successful restaurateur now, not a phenomenon. That's a harder thing to be.